Lately I have been involved with a number of discussions with other photographers about pricing and the cost of doing business. And while there certainly are a varying range of opinions about how people should and do operate their business, a recurring theme of general misunderstanding of basic business costs has come up time and time again. And while I don’t LIKE to say “$300 for a shoot and burn session isn’t good business,” in most circumstances I believe that’s a correct statement. And as you know, my motto is “Cheap is not a business strategy.” Or at least it’s not one that will withstand the test of time, unless you are catering to the thousands, and your last name is Walton. And you are OK working for free.

That said, I know a lot of photographers who are just starting out, or who are in markets where there is a lower CoL (cost of living) and/or less wealth, will disagree with me, or just not understand what I mean.

In order to illustrate my point of view, I pulled out the numbers I used to calculate my business costs, and my pricing, the year I started out in business.  I was working full time at IBM and didn’t have the pressure of needing the extra income and I had the luxury of re-investing my revenue.  These are my COSTS, but not my PRICES (I started fully in business priced appropriately for profit and for my market and for my brand).

To clarify so that we are all using the same terms:

Cost of Goods (COGs) are things that are DIRECTLY related to your sales. So no order, no COGs. They are prints, albums, canvases, DVDs (products) + some people associate shipping with COGs too (inbound to you, outbound to your client).

Average COGS in portrait photography is about 20-25%. Selling digital brings it down, however there still is a COG associated for anything other than just uploading files (screened DVDs, cases, reference prints). Prints, albums, canvases, mounts, mini accordions, etc. have a higher COGs. Let’s not forget when you place an entire order and forget an item and you are now subject to a minimum order for something that costs $2.  Or something is drastically wrong with your color and you have to reprint an entire order. Let’s not even go there with Press Card disasters. All of this speaks to pricing your products and packages appropriately to cover your costs and the time associate with producing them.

Fixed Expenses are costs that you incur if you are operating a business (or even just starting one up) that you will incur indirect from a sale — you need these things regardless if you sell anything, you need them to be in business. The degree to which you need each varies on your business model and your volume and your overall setup. It makes sense to start each year with a budget for each category, then mid-year match up to where you are and figure out if you overspent or underspent and why (and sometimes there are very good reasons).

Tax & Legal Assistance, Memberships (Clickin Moms, PPA, etc.), Gear (lenses, bodies, flashes, CF cards, etc.), Hardware (harddrive storage, laptops, etc.), Software (Photoshop, actions, templates, etc.), Hosting, Web Site & Blog upgrades, Mentoring & Workshops, Logo/Branding, Advertising (booths, prints, ads), Print Materials (inserts, brochures, price lists, thank you notes), Packaging (boxes, clearbags, ribbon, bags), Studio Sample, Props, Studio Rent, Studio Operating Expenses, Cell Phone, Internet

Salary for your time, however there are various ways to calculate that depending on how your business is structured, so I am only going to address “paying yourself” on a broad scale — but it’s important to consider as you will see.

Gross Profit is the amount of revenue you collect, before taxes and expenses

Net Revenue Before Taxes = Gross Profit – COGs – Fixed Expenses – Paid Salary –> This is the number that is the basis for figuring out income taxes. However, that also varies based on how you structure your business, pay yourself, and your general tax rate.

Now let’s put this in real terms. You are going to shoot a full session (est. 1-1.5 hours, family and/or children or newborn) give the clients a DVD in basic packaging with 30 reference prints.

Price: $300  = COGs: $25  Shipping: $5  Total Costs: $30    Net profit: $270

BUDGET

The first thing you should do, as you plan your year, is to estimate a budget with the Fixed Expenses and determine which is a monthly, quarterly or annual expense, and determine which is a MUST have and which is a NICE TO HAVE. Based on my business four years ago (home based, nominal expenses), my FIXED EXPENSES were $15,782, or $1,135/month BEFORE I EVEN SHOT A SESSION. Even with a more conservative budget, removing some “nice to have items,” the fixed budget is still about $10K or about $761/month. In this figure, I do not include an allocation for gas, cell phone, etc. and other things that I was writing off for my IBM job (or as a final tax prep step). Obviously the more you grow, the more fixed expenses you incur, but generally you increase them in line with your growth.

Based on the $300 price point, in order to meet FIXED EXPENSE needs, you need to shoot between 3-5 sessions a month, and you have NOT PAID YOURSELF OR MADE A DIME OF PROFIT.

YOUR TIME

Now let’s consider your time. When I started out, I averaged about TEN hours per client (that’s a lie, once it took me 22 hours to proof down to a 30 image gallery). I still average that, but how it’s allocated is different (more design and consultation, less editing). Luckily, when you shoot better, you edit less.  Hours per client are determined by: pre-booking/book consult time (emails, phone calls, getting payment/forms), travel to/from shoot, shoot, download/backup/organization of files, editing, blogging/FB, gallery presentation, post-session communication, order management, order preparation/edit/placement/receipt, shipping/pickup, payment, close out of client.

Let’s assume that for these $300 sessions, your time is FIVE hours per client (but I doubt it when you are starting out), maybe TEN hours on the high end.

Additionally, every business has “admin” time — time that is allocated to the business that is not directly associated with a client (posting for CC, creating FB posts, blogs, promo cards, pricing, portfolio slideshows, washing newborn blankets, driving to the post office). Let’s allocate 5-10 hours a week for that.

You are now working between 35-90 hours a month, or 9-23 hours a week, and you have NOT PAID YOURSELF OR MADE A DIME OF PROFIT.

PAYING YOURSELF

Now let’s consider that you’ve been doing this for a while and you think YOUR WORK IS GOOD. AND IT HAS VALUE. AND YOU PROVIDE SOMETHING TO OTHERS THAT IS WORTH SOMETHING. (That’s why they are hiring you, right?). And you decide, “Gosh darnit, I want to make a profit and be PAID for my time.” Or “It really would help in these tough economic times to have some extra cash on hand to pay the bills… I could consider this a job and PAY MYSELF.” You decide that you want to pay yourself $15/hour for each hour you work.  I recommend paying yourself much, much more, but again sometimes this is dictated by how your corporation or taxes are set up, your CoL, etc. so let’s use this as a hypothetical figure.

Now you have two choices. You can WORK MORE so that you earn over and above your expenses (what you earn is more $/hour and profit, but typically also increased expenses), or you can INCREASE YOUR PRICES SO THAT YOU MAKE A PROFIT.

You can choose to keep your time per client short, and your admin time brief, and tack on $135-$175 (the more you shoot, the less you mathematically have to increase it) or you can spend more time on both and tack on $270 – $350. But either way, you are now PAYING YOURSELF FOR YOUR WORK. How much you increase your price is dependent on how much work you want to do (this is the “volume” versus the “boutique” model comparison), how much you pay yourself, and where and how you want to market your services and to which segment of the population.

Check out the comparisons. You can see how changing the variables of PRICE, TIME, AND VOLUME changes not only your net profit, but also your hourly rate. It ranges from $.70/hour (yikes) to $16.40/hour.

So now that all this fun and games is complete, keep in mind a few other MINOR (wink) details:

• The Numbers Do Not Lie.  If spend money, you need to understand that what you earn as revenue, counts against that.  It’s basic P&L (profit and loss).  What you choose to do with your P&L is your own business, but if you ignore it, you are doing yourself a big disservice.

• I am NOT saying that you have to be “expensive” to be in business.  I have just described a “break even” analysis to tell you how you determine the costs you need to cover to not LOSE money.  This is so helpful because you can apply it to a number of different pricing scenarios.  For instance, I know how profitable my mini-sessions are in comparison to my other sessions + packages.   My mini-session is the LEAST expensive thing I do, and it’s very profitable, however, I do need to shoot quite a few of them to equate to what my normal average sale is — so I make a choice as to how many I offer, but I do include them as an offering because I then allow clients to work with me who have tight budgets.

• None of the above addresses how you should determine your final pricing.  Your pricing should be a combination of your expense allocation, your COGs, your time [as in time to put together specific products and services], your own value or  your work, the market you live in, and your target client base.  Many people commented to me “I wish my clients understood this.”  And to that, I say “perhaps you need to find different clients.”  I seek out clients who above all, value ME AND MY WORK and do not nickel and dime me, or expect me to be priced just like my competition.  And because of that, I will make my pricing work for people that are respectful of this.

• If you are a client reading this, one of mine, I am sure you already understand why you would not want to work with someone who DIDN’T VALUE HERSELF or HER WORK enough to pay herself. And while a bargain is a bargain, typically you get what you pay for. But this isn’t really a targeted piece to clients, and doesn’t specifically address my clients, my pricing, or my services, my brand, my work.

• Everybody starts somewhere. And $300 for “everything” while you are building your portfolio may or may not be the right thing to do.  I am not advocating that someone who is just starting out set the same prices as me, or anyone else… that is AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION.  Additionally, when you first start it can take you 22 hours to proof a gallery that once you were really established and awesome, might take you 2 hours.  So maybe paying yourself by hour when you are just starting out is a little bit skewed!

• You can certainly charge $300 for your services, but offer what makes sense for that (less time and different service) so that you are not operating in the negative – make it fee based, and add on a la carte as your client wants more product and services… no harm in that (like above example of mini sessions).

• Your NET PROFIT IS SUBJECT TO A TAX RATE OF 20-40% depending on how you file your taxes and your household tax bracket (whether you file as a corporation or pass it through your personal income statement) — so if monthly net income of $1,385 felt good to you, keep in mind that it’s really closer to $970. Because that’s how Uncle Sam Rolls. And as someone who has a disaster to clean up with sales tax right now, I can tell you that my INCOME TAX PAYMENT is BEYOND PERFECT down to the dime. And not allocating correctly for it can really try a good thing (like your husband and accountant’s patience, your business credibility, etc.).

• YOU MIGHT HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR HOUSEHOLD. Imagine now being responsible for $1,000 worth of bills each month (or $3K in my case). It basically feels like even if you net $1K (or $3K) that you are still working for nothing. Not free, because your clients are paying you, but you still have no profit in your LIFE.

• You might be GOOD. You might be VERY VERY VERY GOOD. And it might be OK with you to NOT MAKE A DIME. But there are other photographer’s out there who value their time and their service FAR MORE than $15/hour, who have trained for years, and who have given their blood sweat and tears to build their business (and who have families to support). And because you decide that for your first few years you can “capture the market” and advocate that $300 is fair market value, their pricing of $750 or $1500 or $1800 seems GROSSLY out of whack. And so the market begins to re-set itself towards your pricing. And then, wait, a year passes and you realize YOU WANT TO GET PAID and you try to raise your prices… and WHOA, no one likes that… and you look around and WOW there is someone doing it for less than you, how dare they! So you can thank yourself for that, because undercutting the market and working for free… well, that’s all you baby!

So there is SO MUCH MORE to this. And I am writing this and risk angering people (primarily my peers who will scold me for spending 2+ hours writing this and then giving it away FOR FREE). And that last point is to be TONGUE IN CHEEK and POKING FUN and NOT DIRECTED AT ANYONE BUT RATHER TO THE ENTIRE MARKET. I just wanted to get it down “on paper” because it comes up over and over and over again and honestly I think some people defend it because they grab numbers out of the air, and some people just don’t know better… and of course, because for some people, this model actually works for them. So if it makes you pause, and perhaps bristle, please do yourself a favor and take a moment to think WHY.

For the others who actually found it valuable, awesome.

So these guys did not disappoint.  Everyone who has peaked over my shoulder has agreed… they are a gorgeous family.  Thank you so much… I am so truly grateful that you are my clients…and now friends.

My work is truly an amazing gift that I have given myself. Yes, in my busy months I sleep little, work 60 hour a week, and spend 75% of my time RUNNING MY BUSINESS [not shooting]. And THAT is a story for another day [the one to clear up the myth that it's a BLAST being a professional photographer]. But right now, what I do is a gift to me [and thus my family because HAPPY MOM = HAPPY FAMILY and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise]. This year, I have been fortunate to photograph some of my VERY FAVORITE repeat clients. Clients who have been with me for years. It’s also been a chance to meet some new ones [like I think I might love my new clients tomorrow!].

It’s also a gift to me that I have STUDIO SPACE to play, to work, and to call my own. And apparently to be able to say “please come keep me company tonight at 8PM… bring wine…” Again, another story.

But the studio, it’s really opened up possibilities for me. Let’s get something straight, it is PAINFUL to write my rent check each month. That is money that could be in my pocket, paying for home repairs, buying things the kids need, going into an IRA. And should I ever decide I don’t want the expense [and perhaps would rather fund my Lululemon/Anthropologie/Frye Boot/Weekly Facials habit], it’s going to give the perception that my business isn’t doing well, when in fact, that might be the opposite. But right now, it’s my space and it allows me to meet my clients in a professional environment, show them my work, and honestly, it gave me a place to store all my crap.

But it’s kind of been under utilized and that was kind of bumming my high. I had a vision in my mind, executed, and when I was done, it just didn’t feel right. From there, I let it get messy. And I hated it more. Then I enlisted the help of a simply DIVINE design genius and she gave it one look and was like “WHOA. GREAT SPACE. BAD DESIGN.” And from that, gave me some tips using her high/low strategy and I was able to slowly execute her plan. It needs a few more details, but finally, when I get into work, I sigh and I am happy. So thank you Katie Rosenfeld… you and your daily blog inspire me.

OK, so land the plane Kristina.

I decided to try to push myself to create an indoor studio space that would do two things [1] to photograph in the lifestyle portrait style that I love, using primarily natural light, and avoid creating a typically proppy studio look {especially with newborns} and [2] to learn how to use my overabundance of natural light to create the perfect, classic, studio portrait.  And while those two things are almost on completely different ends of the spectrum, they both to me represent clean, unadorned, timeless photography.  They also each provided me with a different set of learning challenges and gave me something to get excited about. [The dork in me is FANATICAL about learning].

So yesterday I decided to go forth with a solid round of good old fashion practice [in addition to the previous day's session].  See?  This is where I can repeat “MY JOB IS A GIFT.”  Because Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days home with my kids… and the fact that I can turn them into productive working hours, while keeping my kids [and their friends] amused is AMAZING.  So I spent the day arranging and re-arranging set ups.  Trying out the light from each side of the building, and at different times of the day, pushing my gear when I had to, running to download, grabbing a fresh card, and starting over again.  And it was SO refreshing to be able to say “wow, these SUCK” and “holy cow, I am in LOVE.”  And with some, it was so great to get really constructive peer feedback on what I need to tweak and then get super excited for next week when I can set it up again and see if I can improve.  [The dork in me is also FANATICAL about getting feedback from my peers... because my mom and friends will always tell me I am awesome, even when I am not].

So here’s the result of it, with some notes. What a great deal of learning to be had. I am so excited to finish the room… to nail down the light the way I vision it… to shoot! So stay tuned for some studio tours, get together opportunities and of course session opportunities.

You may want to file these under Mommy Goggles, but honestly, I am in love with these.  They are actually SO GOOD at doing what I ask, and giving me what I need from them, and as long as I move fast, and keep it simple, they are gems.  One of the biggest things that has helped me working with kids is to greatly improve my instructions.  “Look up” doesn’t work if you need them to raise their head a bit, but instead “follow my finger” while you raise it just slightly.  “Smile” doesn’t work either… that’s a recipe for gritted teeth and scrunched smiles.  But instead, “Think about what you are getting for your birthday.”  And laugh, well, that’s easy.  Just mention farts. So being able to manage commands has really reduced the amount of stress and frustration during our shoots.

Peace.  Grace.  Thanks.  Calm.  Fortune.  Mine.

Another gift, while we are on the topic, is that these two girlies will have their friendship, almost from week one, documented and preserved.  They are truly best friends, speak in their own language, and are tremendously sad when apart.  Her mom and I are eternally grateful for their bond, and that we have them in our lives.

The past and the present and the future. Faith and Hope and Charity, the heart and the brain and the body Give you three as a magic number.

Jen and Billy and Romar and Chloe and Leah came by for a visit. Alright, I hounded them to come by for a visit. The other day I was joking on Facebook about giving free sessions to people who wiped my kids bums and cared for them… so I wanted to clarify, Jen actually RAISED my kids for a while. So needless to say, that gets her soup-to-nuts everything in the photog world. And I love seeing how their family has grown, and is now one, and a happy forever home and family for Romar, and the twins are all sorts of crazy goodness. Awesome sauce [right girls? was that proper use?]. Church.

So here are some from their sesh. Delish.

[The rad diaper covers are from my friend Rena, who makes the Earth a better place by creating amazing cloth diapers. She is the process of changing her name to Sproutling Love... and building great things!]

To set the stage, when you stepped out of the hallway, it was done up to the nines as a jungle theme, courtesy of Balloonantics.  It was stunning and put all the kiddos [and adults!] in a jungle mood before they even arrived at the party!

Once in the party, you were greeted by amazing visual stimulation, again, courtesy of Andrew… and custom linen designs for Ilex by Be Our Guest.

And food that you just could not pass up.  The food and drink [Max Ultimate Food] was exquisitely coordinated to compliment every aspect of the event with delicacies like duck mini-burgers, Tiger Paws, Safari Sandwiches, Jungle Sticks, and Monkey Tails.  DID I MENTION THE BELLINIS?

But all this aside, the MOST important element of the party, was the beautiful birthday girl, her family, and her friends.  She is truly loved!

Today I stumbled across a website of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who just decided to go “into business” as a photographer.  It’s no use trying to figure out who it is, I think there are about 2,385 sites that my friends of friends could collectively find and pool together in this category.  And that’s a lowball number.

Without getting into specifics about the drastic issues with this portfolio, I thought I’d point out just how helpful  — no, IMPERATIVE — it is to GET FEEDBACK from industry peers (fellow photographers) before you “go into business.”  And I am only providing this advice because lately I’ve had a number of requests from people to tell me some initial steps they should take to go into business.  And this is only MY opinion, others might not share it.

But get advice…

• Not from your MOM.
• Not from your BFF whose daughter’s 6 month photos you took.
• Not from your Facebook friends.

Get advice from other photographers who are in business as established professionals.  Why?  If my clients are happy, who cares what other photographers think?

Because other photographers can give you an honest assessment of your strengths and your weaknesses in an unbiased, non-mommy-google, fashion.  They can point out compositional issues, focus issues, exposure issues, and post processing issues.  They can help you identify what is a definitive style (which may include breaking some rules) and what is a skill issue.

They can help you grow.  They can suggest some checkpoints to use as “readiness” before jumping into business.  They can help you learn about the myriad of challenges you will face and help you tackle common issues of going into business so that you are prepared to meet them when they arise.

Join an industry forum.  There are plenty of them. Some are big, some are small, some are focused on niche markets, some are positive places to be, some are not.  Explore them, find one that is right for you.

Once you do that, post your work for critique. Ask for HHCC (hard hat constructive criticism).

Understand that even your worst critic will provide a perspective that you did not previously think of. Learn from feedback. If your feelings are hurt, walk away for a little bit, digest it, but don’t ever discount it. Ideally find a forum where you can submit a portfolio review, especially if you think you are ready to be in business.

If enough people say “you aren’t ready,” you probably are not.  It’s easy to say “but my clients love my work” or “everyone tells me I am awesome.”  It is not easy to listen, realize, take a step back and re-assess.  It is painful, but it is worth it.  Getting feedback from professionals who have been in your shoes is invaluable. THANK any one that offers to help you even if you respectfully decline to follow their ideas or listen to their feedback.  Then thank them again because they took time out of their day to help you.

Once you have found a forum of peers, rely on them for checking of your work. Very few photographers ever reach a point where they require zero input from peers or mentors. It may not mean a review of every session on a broad forum, but it is immensely helpful to develop a network of peers and supporters that can listen to your ideas and eyeball your work before you take it mainstream.  Even the most brilliant photographers occasionally have an image in their portfolio that just doesn’t fit or just isn’t them.

And if once this is done, if you aren’t ready, don’t be afraid to temporarily pull down your website.  Take some time, then fill it up with strong and beautiful images that are definitive of your style.  We have all been there, we all have early work that makes us cringe, we’ve all jumped the gun a little too soon.  Six months or so might feel like an eternity, but it’s shorter than the time it would take you to get a degree or certificate in school or to complete an apprenticeship… so certainly that’s not too long to learn and start over.

And if you are ready, go forth and conquer.  Continue to grow.  Network with local peers.  Give back to the community and help new photographers find their way — it doesn’t mean sharing your list of vendors or your secrets, but it means providing positive direction and education where and when you can (and you won’t always have the bandwidth to do so).  By doing this, you will help better the industry by stressing the importance of knowledge and skill.

If you took the time to read this, thank you.  If you have questions, please feel free to message me or leave a comment.

And to put it into perspective: an image from when I THOUGHT I was ready compared to where I am today.  Five years later.

To start, today was the first day I could actually resume working (even with my kids in tow) as it’s the first day in oh-so-long that someone hasn’t be throwing up, or we haven’t been to the ER, or Janey’s ear infection(s) didn’t consume our day.  Even with kids, I slowly started to re-emerge from my haze.  So other than the day I shot these, when I say I have not been able to work this year, I actually really mean it.  So blogging these means that I am catching up.

More important, I am so excited to blog these for Betsy – and I shot them on her birthday.  Betsy is one of my dearest, bestest, friends.  Although we have periods of time where we just can’t catch up, planned or spontaneously, we can “what up” with each other and there is zero explanation needed or backstory to be told.  Life just gets in the way.  Lately, we’ve been trying to do a better job staying connected, and it makes me really happy.  Betsy and I have known each other since 1993.  That makes me gag a little because I can’t imagine that we can even be that old — I don’t feel it!  But it makes me smile because it’s so amazing to me that I have friends that I’ve known for half my life.  But within all those years, there are stories we’ve shared that have literally made us wet our pants laughing.  There have been tears.  Losses.  We rode the PMC for so many years together.  Newport.  Nantucket.  Brighton.  Charlestown.  Arguments.  “Don’t even bring it up and meet me for a cocktail” nights.  I ran directly to her house the night I met my husband.  And I accompanied her on her first date with hers (I am sure Dan was PSYCHED).  There are things that I remember like it was yesterday and things that I don’t remember at all (OK, I do, but we both know those should stay deep in the River D’Nile).

Betsy is an amazing mom.  She’s one of the best scratch cooks I know.  She’s worked her tail off in Corporate America and is the mom that can pull off putting on a suit, getting her daughter out the door while her husband travels, commute over an hour, and do her job well, all while 8 months pregnant.  And she looks good.  I know that as she enters this next Chapter in The Book of Betsy, good things are going to come.

So here are some images.  A lot of them.  But I know you’d expect nothing less.

[It should be noted that just because this is about Betsy and her girls, and it was her birthday present, I don't meant to exclude Dan.  He was just out of town when I arrived that morning!].

So this little boy is so special because he’s the youngest of I think 27 grandchildren on his mom’s side.  And you’ve all been privy to me photographing quite a few of them.  I shot his parent’s wedding and it was one of the most beautiful, heartfelt events I’ve attended, working or personal.  I truly enjoy the company of both Monica and Todd and think they honestly epitomize what true, everlasting love should be.  And I couldn’t be happier that they allowed me to photograph their little boy in his earliest weeks.  Thank you.

And I am so sorry about the delay!  I hope you love these as you look back now at about 2 months and think “I can’t believe he was ever that small!”  He’s a gem for sure.

1. In 2011 I went from being a very awesome, heartfelt, deeply involved blogger about my work and my sessions to being a slacker to being downright absent. A number of reasons accounted for that, time, laziness, guilt, too many things to say, lack of anything to say. But I know that clients and future clients really enjoy seeing favorites from a session, and to share images before they even see their slideshow, and so for 2012, I am going to do my best to document my sessions.

2. I shot this session on Friday, and I am blogging it three days later. That’s not off from how I used to work.  But get this: their slideshow is ready. No joke. Undoubtedly, this trend won’t stick. There is no way it could. Typically it takes me a day just to upload, backup, organize and “star” my sessions, let alone to proof, final edit, rename, resize, select for slideshow, upload, produce, and publish. But I have almost nothing else in the hopper right now and if I didn’t do this, I’d have to clean my studio and I REALLY don’t want to do that.

3. I love this family. Read On.

I met these guys late in 2010. It was a session that almost didn’t happen because it was booked late in the year, then we rescheduled, and it was close to cutoff. But it did. And for some reason I had no expectations when I arrived at their house. Not high, not low, just no. And when I walked in, I was happy. They are my perfect family. Beautiful. Gracious. Smart. Kind. In love with their daughter. And BALLBUSTERS. Steven immediately let me know that I had to exceed the output of a friend’s family portrait “montage.” And thus with every click of the shutter, I was reminded of the bar I must vault. All while Jill shushed him and shook her head behind his back. And Ella smiled. I think I spent two hours with them and drove laughing the entire way back home.

A few weeks later, I decided to listen to my home phone messages (a rare occurrence) and there sat a message from Steven with a heartfelt thank you. Not only had Jill thanked me over email, which was awesome, but Steven had taken the time to call. This blew me over [and more important meant he WON the montage bragging rights]. I deliver countless orders to clients and other than checking the tracking numbers, often never hear directly from the client they’ve received their orders and were pleased. I don’t expect to hear each time, I delivered what I promised (usually late) and it’s end of story. But to get a call, from a husband no less, really meant something to me. [Please don't go calling, my home phone is in the garbage pail and my mobile voice mail is full].

This year, I was thrilled to hear from Jill that they wanted another session, but more important, that Ella would become a big sister in December. Oh happy day. I love hearing that my clients are expecting, I love that I am on their “notify” email list when the baby arrives, and I love that I can share in their growing family. And so twice in about 6 weeks, I was able to visit them and document more of their life, and share in their happiness.

So Kramers, thank you. Your third “montage” is on its way to you. Hopefully now you have three winners of which you can claim bragging rights to. I am so happy you have selected me to document the milestones of your life. You guys really are more than I could ask for and seriously amazing clients.

I cannot get enough of this face.  And she’s not even mine.

High key B&W images make my heart sing.  Even when they are serious.

And welcoming Evan.

Okay. Stop here. Girls, this is EXACTLY why your mother-in-laws have reservations about you. Because honestly, why wouldn’t you try to knife down any other person that received THIS LOOK from YOUR SON.

I shot this back in November.  But if you’ll recall, back in November I wasn’t blogging.  I was re-capping from shooting a wedding.  And I was packing for St. Martin. And I was generally losing my ever-loving mind [along with countless emails, phone calls, and whatever else that is important].  But I was SO psyched for Melissa’s session.  I drove down there and I still had all my delicious rental gear from Corey’s wedding, and went down and arrived at their home and Melissa HAD IT GOING ON.  Like everyone was prepped, ready, dressed.  We had 45 minutes with John there, and we planned to walk to the park.

Which was awesome.  Until I realized that I brought my gripped body with TWO DEAD BATTERIES.  How unprofessional.  But I remember standing at the table and checking the other body and saying “well, I’ll bring the gripped on and play it safe.”  I think drove 30 minutes with my extra battery charger plugged into my console (yes, for emergencies) and never thought to check and charge.  So in a panic, but still smiling, I had Melissa call valet, retrieve my battery adapter from the car, and I charged one battery.  I charged it 13 minutes.  While heading to the park, I charged the second.

Without turning on my gear, I figured out what each setup would be (I have shot in the Commons a lot).  I studied the light, silently the entire way over, and I mentally calculated exactly what my settings would need to be for the compositions I had in my head.  You’d have thought I was re-working the Fibonacci Golden Ratio in my head.   When I turned on my gear, battery was blinking and I figured I had 15 shots.  So I’d set up each shot, shoot, chimp for 1.5 seconds and turn off my camera.  Literally.  Camera off in between EVERY SINGLE SHOT.  I ended up with probably about 50 shots, 33 of which were keepers in the gallery, thus really reminded me that if you shoot TOTALLY INTENTIONAL, there is no need to overshoot AT ALL.

When we got home, we relaxed, said by to John, and with a full battery [and a full glass of wine], we were able to change up outfits and rock out a Part 2 with some killer outdoor natural light on their gorgeous patio.

Melissa being Melissa hosted some good eats, delicious wines, fed my kids, and entertained me to no end.  It was truly a very awesome afternoon.  I was so excited to get her images, but am even MORE excited because we are adding to her gorgeous album library, and have pulled together a stunning frame arrangement with her beautiful images.  I can’t wait to share when they are hung!

So thanks Melissa for sharing your beautiful home and family!

So here we are.

I really wanted to share some images from this session for a few reasons.  Primarily because I really did stalk Chris and Marci last year for this session.  I reconnected with Chris, and then “met” Marci, when I was having coffee [read: cocktails] with Mrs. Fellows and inevitably we had Facebook up and somehow we made the connection that she knew Marci and I knew Chris, and what are the chances, and don’t we now have a bunch of mutual friends up here on the North Shore?  So you know I love to photograph people I know, and conversely, you know I end up knowing all my clients through 10 different avenues.  And so it just begged the question “Why aren’t I photographing the Gallups?”

Chris and I went to college together and I’d say we ran in the same circles, which is really just one giant circle, a giant confused circle, a giant confused very fun circle.  Such was Hobart College.  I think we ran into each other a few times out in Boston… and now ALL these years later we both live on the North Shore.  It’s so awesome to see the people I knew 20 years ago living such great lives.  He married Marci who is downright FABULOUS in every sense of the word and they have 4 awesome kiddos.  And it’s just a really cool thing to come full circle and catch up again.  Even though we didn’t actually catch up because he was trying to prevent his children from jumping off Castle Rock and I was trying to photograph them doing just that… but I did kind of get to know Marci more and she’s a winner and I know I’ll be seeing more of her.

So landing the plane, one reason I wanted to share is that I know them, love them, cute family, all is good.  The other reason is that one night last year I happened to log on to Facebook and saw that they adopted Riley.  To me, that is the most beautiful and selfless and amazing thing someone can do for their family.  We have a few adoption stories that are quite close to our hearts and so when I find out that someone has chosen this option to complete their family, I immediately think “I need to capture their family complete for them.”  So we planned to do a session last year, but things got crazy with my schedule and their home renovation, and it slipped to this fall.  But we finally shot it, and I love it.  Their family is so full of energy, their boys are gorgeous [and funny and polite] and Riley just completes the puzzle. [Well, a dog actually completes the puzzle... so we'll have to see what happens with that!]. And so here they are, on my blog.

Thanks for a great Sunday.  I am happy we got this done and we did so before the first touchdown of the Pats game.  I hope to see you soon!

[As a special little treat, I am sharing their entire slideshow at the bottom. It was a fun session and very representative of my work -- a blend of lifestyle portraiture.... and since I haven't updated my portfolio on this site yet, it gives you an idea of what to expect at a session!]

Love this.  I must have said “OK, now NO ONE look at the camera!”

Love love love how Chris and Marci are pretty far apart but still totally connected looking at each other!

A picture of the Lighthouse at the Lighthouse!  What could be better?

It means even more to me because the article sums up a few things for me.  Primarily that we have chosen an awesome town to live in with a great school district and good, solid, family values and that with a little luck, our kids will grow up to be as amazing as the Seniors I have photographed this year.  Every session I shoot, I walk away thinking “this kid is AMAZING.”  And I truly mean it with everything I have.  When I say to the girls “you are beautiful,” I mean it.  To every one of them.  When I say to the parents “your son/daughter has exceptional poise, grace and manners,” I mean it.  About every single one of them.  And I have to believe that some of it has to do with the community we’ve chosen to live, and the values we chosen to instill in them.  It’s a town where supermodel-brain-surgeons-to-be still babysit and mow the lawn.  And where sports and academics are still so important.  And where for the most part, the fast-paced, grow up to fast, perils of high school are still sort of removed.  The town rallies around the teams… people still bring cookies to their neighbors… and everyone helps each other out.  So to think that this is where we’ve grounded our family and I’ve built my business, is amazing to me.

But this also means a lot to me because it feels like I’ve been able to connect with the High School Senior Market.  Last year, I shot about 10 seniors and said “If I do 20 next year, I’ll be happy.”  I think I’ll end up around 30, and still have a few more that need to book.  For me, it’s not about volume.  I don’t need every Senior at Masconomet High School, nor could I handle it.  What I need are kids, and their parents, to connect with my style, and understand my philosophy, and think “that’s a fit for us.”  And I feel like this year, I got just that.  I am not the girl you should call if you just want a head shot.  If you don’t want to keep the images I shoot of your children, we are probably not a fit.  But if you understand that this is one of the last times you’ll be able to professionally capture your son or daughter before they walk out that door, and that means something to you (and maybe makes you teary), then you are looking in the right place.

So to all the Seniors I photographed, and to the Juniors that are thinking about next year, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  And to those that are now on my text list for babysitting, thank you all just a little bit extra!

*To clarify, I was actually at IBM for 13 years!  Just about 18 months overlap!